WRITING LIFE, WRITING EUROPERe: Creating Europe, Amsterdam 2016

How does Europe shape a human life?The answer will be explored in a theatrical journey through European history, following the life of Jewish-Hungarian writer György Konrád.The Jewish-Hungarian writer György Konrád (1933) is the ultimate embodiment of Europe’s tumulus 20th century. As a young boy, he escaped the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps. In 1956 he saw first hand the unfolding of the Hungarian revolts. During communist rule he defended individual freedom, and continued his campaign through and after the fall of the Berlin Wall as a determining voice in the Hungarian democratic opposition. Facism, communism and capitalism: Konrád has survived each and every one, never dissuaded from picking up his pen. Throughout it all, he remained a determined believer in a European culture and its strengths. How might someone, whose life story is so defined by European history, view today’s Europe? It is this vision that György Konrád will share during his lecture. Theatre maker Marjolijn van Heemstra will convey the life and oeuvre of this exceptional writer.